We talked with German Herrera, the US CEO of Egon Zehnder, the global search and leadership advisory firm.  We all know that the best leaders need to be forward thinking and agile, but it's not as simple as we would like to believe.  Coaches are needed more than ever to help CEOs and Boards to put what we know into action.  

Based in Miami, German Herrera leads Egon Zehnder in the United States, the Firm's largest and most dynamic market. In the U.S. German leads a team of about 500 colleagues across 11 offices. He focuses on business development, increasing market penetration, and growing the team across all services, practice groups, and offices.  The first Latinx person in this role in the industry, German proactively works on building strategic partnerships and joint ventures with external organizations and stakeholders to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. 

German has extensive experience working closely with boards and CEOs on succession strategies, recruiting, assessing, and retaining senior leadership talent. He is committed to ensuring companies thrive in today’s competitive landscape by developing leaders’ potential and helping companies tap into diverse talent pools. 

For him, embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion at the highest levels of organizations adds critical competitive advantage for organizations across every industry.  Over his almost 25 years with Egon Zehnder, German has held several leadership positions. Most recently, he led the Global Family Business Advisory Practice Group. Before, he led the North American Industrial Practice Group. Additionally, he established and led the Miami office for nine years, working closely with multinational companies, family-owned businesses, and private equity firms. German also played a foundational role in opening the Firm’s office in Bogotá, Colombia. 

Before working at Egon Zehnder, German led new business development efforts at Promigas, a diversified telecommunications, energy, and natural gas conglomerate in Colombia. Previously, he was an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company’s Andean Pact Office, where he led strategy, operations, and organization engagements in industrial, oil and gas, and other sectors. German began his career as a Program Manager at International Paper Company overseeing productivity and operations improvement projects for manufacturing facilities throughout the United States. 

German holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Columbia University. He loves spending time outdoors with family and friends. Currently, German is chair of the Governance and Nominations Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Pan American Development Foundation, which works to promote economic opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean.